September Issue
One woman’s watery journey of self discovery and letting go
By Ekin Balcıoğlu
When I was around seven years old, my parents took me to the thermal pools of Pamukkale, a four-hour drive inland from our coastal hometown of Izmir. I remember being vaguely excited about the trip, but unsure what to expect. I loved the sea, but this place, as they’d described it to me, sounded completely different from the enchanting azure of the Aegean. Read More
Ukrainian resistance and defiance shine through war-time street art
By Liz Cookman
For most of 2023, my bedroom window looked out onto a 30-foot-tall, blue-gray mural of the heroic Ghost of Kyiv. Word of the flying ace’s exploits spread like wildfire in the days after Russia’s late February 2022 invasion. He was said to have downed six Russian aircraft as enemy forces attempted to take the capital. Read More
On a hike in rural Egypt, a teenager gains some valuable perspective
By Tiphini Axtell
One evening late last year, my husband, our three teen children and I found ourselves trudging up a mountain of sand in remote Egypt led by a local man named Fahmi. If I hadn’t been there to see it all happen, I might’ve wondered, how did we get here? Read More
The split-second eternity of running with the bulls
By Michael K. Cobb
I swear that big bull had me in his sights. Horns squared, nostrils flared, he was headed straight for me, and not taking his time about it. For an unbearably long half-second on the morning of Friday the 13th in Pamplona, Spain, I wondered if I’d see my wife and kids again. Read More
Tradition and conversation around the hearth in the old Ottoman capital
By Paul Osterlund
On a sweltering July afternoon in the heart of Istanbul’s old city, groups of men huddle around colored plastic tables in the shade of the Aqueduct of Valens, an imposing, nearly 100-foot-tall stone wall built in the 4th century by its namesake Roman emperor. This is Duygu Ocakbaşı, a modest Turkish ocakbaşı, or grill house, and a beloved local eatery on the edge of conservative, working-class Zeyrek. Read More
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